New round of forgery charges

A man who previously served prison time for forging checks was indicted on charges that he did it again in July.

A grand jury indicted Mark Reed, 46, on Friday on two counts of first-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument and a count of criminal possession of forgery devices.

According to the indictment, on July 19 Reed allegedly tried to pass a forged payroll check at the Price Chopper market on 125th Street and tried to pass another four days later at an Oakwood Avenue location in the city.

The forgery devices seized by police were a laptop computer, blank checks, check-writing software and a printer, the indictment states. Reed is in Rensselaer County Jail without bail.

Also indicted in the alleged scam was Meaghan Cummings of Troy, who was charged with a count of first-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument for also trying to pass one of the checks at the Oakwood Avenue location July 23, according to the indictment.

Her jail or bail status was not available. Their arraignments are pending.

Reed was paroled from state prison in 2010 after serving five years for a 2005 plea to second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument in a check-cashing scam using stolen check routing numbers from the Albany County Probation Department. That scam netted him $33,000, court records say. Current charges also accuse Reed of fabricating bogus checks he intended to cash.

Reed's case is pending before a grand jury and he also asked Tuesday that he be able to testify before the panel. He told the judge he wanted to wear civilian clothes and not be shackled if he testified in front of the panel.

In 1994, Reed and two other men were convicted in federal court of stealing $67,000 from area Price Chopper supermarkets in a bogus payroll scam in which they set up phony businesses, cut payroll checks and had the checks cashed in Albany, Schenectady and Rensselaer counties. He was sentenced to 1 to 4 years in prison.